They have another bigger man to fill in though... I think we drew the 3 teams with the best post presences in the tournament, and I don't like it. Morgan has shown he can more than hang. A good 7 footer does scare me though.

Glad they won. Let's see if their freshmen can successfully celebrate a huge rivalry win in the tournament and then come out ready to play great basketball in less than 48 hours. Let's see if Calipari can prepare for Beilein in time. My guesses: no and no

Anyway, Kentucky looks to me to be very similar to Tennessee, but with a worse coach, less experience, and higher top end potential. Especially without Cauley-Stein who would really bother our guys trying to get to the rim and would probably make us even more a jump shooting team.

UK has a worse coach than Tennessee? I wouldn't exactly say that. Cuonzo Martin was nearly fired at midseason, while Calipari has multiple Final Fours and a NC ring to his record. He also just beat Rick Pitino and Gregg Marshall.

They also gave Louisville an extra possession at the end with their inability to properly view a replay. I just don't get how you can get a call wrong after looking at a slow mo zoomed in replay. I mean honestly. How the fuck does that happen twice in one night by two separate crews?

True. I just saw the one from our game on this postgame and it is just mindboggling how they saw anything but Maymon's hand touching that last. They should make the refs submit a public report saying what they see on replays. Maybe that would make them see a little better.

Also a bunch of reporters keep asking why that charge was called "in that situation." What the fuck? If it's a foul it's a foul. It's absurd how much they try to change the rules in the final minute.

when you miss 10 free throw attempts, and made five fewer than UK (which was the difference) they didn't capitalize even when the refs did make calls go their way. 13/23 FT shooting is inexcusable for any team in a tournament.

I'm of the opinion that calipari isnt a bad coach. It's just he recruits players that aren't super coach able in that one and done mold. In his past though his teams have been well put together and he has out together impressive wins over Wichita state and Louisville.

He has had a fair amount of success at Kentucky with the exception of last year. Don't get me wrong...he is a total sleaze, Cheater but I don't buy everyone asserting he isn't a good coach. Regular season doesn't matter now. We aren't playing that Kentucky team. We are playing the current one, one that is seemingly better. That being said I think we can totally win this.

With the players he has recruited he should have had a lot more success. I'll never for get him saying publicly of his Derrick Rose Memphis team that he didn't have them practice free throws because he didn't think they were important. They lost the final because they couldn't make free throws.

The sucked all year. They are finally hitting their stride. They went from preseason #1 which proved their potential to unranked towards the end of the year. They has terrible losses. Now they are doing big things but they didn't deserve anything better than a 7.

Tournament commitee tries to seed based on resume, not name. Kentucky's resume was not good in a bad conference, therefore they didn't deserve a better seed. You can't ask the tournament commitee to be fortune tellers, and make the assumption that Kentucky would come together in the tournament.

Honey badger don't care about respect. A honey badger just cares about winning. And yes, I think in this regard, Coach Beilein is a honey badger. To anyone that doubts, subs=crazy, and for all I care the man has a Phd in Math, so he is an expert in equations.

...we would be picked to lose (again) regardless of who won that game. And I love it. Keep telling this team they can't, especially #52, who will be told by everyone how future lottery pick Randle will have his way with JMo. Well, we'll just see about that.

Physically this is the matchup I did not want to see but if Cauley-Stein is slowed will obviously hurt UK. Randle is one of my fav players in college since he plays old school post and that's rare but I don't want to see him against us.

Will be curious how they react emotionally. They just played the basketball equivalent of OSU-UM and to come back 2 days later will be interesting. Don't know if freshman have memories like that but it could be a wildcard.

On the positive side we don't face a press; but I thought UL was a better matchup since it's 3 players - granted 3 very good players - you need to focus on and UL sucks at FT shooting.

You guys are pretty happy about Kentucky. They have big guards that take it to the rack and score. That's our biggest weakness in my opinion. At least against Louisville our guards would have a big height advantage. Against UK we'll need a big edge in turnover margin, because they're going to get easy buckets and rebounds.

Louisville's press would have given us all sorts of trouble this year. If cauley stein can't play I think this matchup is better. Harrell on Louisville is just as fearsome as a big. Also, while Louisville was small, Russ smith and jones I think were lightning quick. I think they would have diced us up and really put jmo under a lot of pressure.

Defense on the perimeter trying to stop drives by UK. I think Morgan may be able to keep Randle from having a monster game, but drives from the guards is the scary prospect. Tennessee was getting alot of easy buckets that way in the second half, and they don't have as good of athletes as UK.

Still, this team has proved doubters wrong most of the season despite their weaknesses, so I am not sure what to think. Possibly we might see more of the 1-3-1 zone, though that would be a recipe to possibly get killed on the glass.

I think Michigan has a pretty clear recipe for winning games -- minimal turnovers and above-average 3pt shooting. We did one of those things very well tonight, and it was enough to barely get by. Against Kentucky, I think we will need to do both things atleast well, if not great. I'm hoping that they don't have a good "team defense" and Michigan gets good looks at open jumpers. I don't think they have faced anything close to Beilein's offense, in terms of the pressure it puts on teams to switch, hedge, and closeout on shooters.

for those of you who share the religiosity gene with me, what of sporting the colors at church? I am not in Michigan, and have been perturbed at the sight of Spartys wearing the green at our place of worship several times in recent months. The temptation is great to stick my leg out to trip them in the aisle, but I have managed to resist. I am proud of my alma mater, but church does not seem like the place to flaunt maize and blue.

I don't mean to aim this at you specifically but why does picking someone else to win make them a hater? Kentucky has a boat load of talent and just beat the team that a lot of people picked to win it all. Kentucky is going to be the darling dark horse pick. I don't think it would matter who they were playing.

I guess hater was the wrong word to use, I just feel like mich doesn't get enough respect as opposed to other "quality" teams. Idk I just think it's annoying but we play better as an underdog, so oh well..

We win by atleast 10, not a doubt in my mind. I thoroughly expect a 2013 Elite 8 start for us on Sunday afternoon, and Calipari won't know what hit him. As far as matchups go I think Walton and Harisson is a push, with Levert and Stauskas having the advantage over Harrison and Young. Robinson and Randle will be a tough call, and I like Morgan vs Johnson. As far as bench goes, Spike/Irvin/Horford is better than Cauley-Stein and Poythress, and of course Beilein can coach circles around Calipari.

Opponent has size advantage inside and length to contain Michigan's wings. Opponent plays great D and will be able to slow down Michigan enough and will be able to score at will at the rim.

Keep giving us the same style and keep picking us to lose.

On another note, I have a colleague who went to UK and has been a lifelong fan. Right before the tourney I asked him if he thought they could decide it's now time to play (a la Fab Five 1992), flip a switch, take it up to another level, and make a run. He told me no way, they're way too stupid, and that their assist/TO ratio would doom them. Predicted they lucked out drawing Wichita, and if they got by the Shockers, Louisville would destroy them.

I'd personally give UK a healthy dose of the 1-3-1. TO prone true freshmen with 1 day to prepare? Sign me up.

and get Nik some early looks with lots of off the ball screens and maybe we can jump on them. Yes Louisville had them by the throat and we have seen a tendency to let off the gas, but I don't think we can play catch up with the Cats. Gotta get on them early. I think it will go down to the wire 85-80 good guys

I like the matchup with Kentucky better than Louisville. Kentucky is loaded with talent but they do not play defense the way that Pitino teams do. We will have plenty of room to get our shot off and Michigan typically shoots better (if that is possible) the 2nd time they play at a venue.

I am not saying Kentucky can't win, but I like Michigan's chances. To me the difference will be if Michigan continues to be sloppy with the ball or do a better job of limiting their turnovers. Should be a great game.